A wide variety of starch and protein-based snack food products are presently available to the consumer. Many of these products are in the form of chips, strips, and extruded tubular pieces. Some of these products are expanded or puffed and contain a cellular or honeycombed internal structure. In addition, most of the present-day snack products contain a fairly high level of fat, either in the form of separately added ingredients, such as cheese, or in the form of fats imparted to the product during cooking, as in the case of corn or potato chips. Fat improves the flavor and palatability of these products. However, it also increases the caloric value of the product. Even chips and snacks fried in non-digestible fats such as olestra, contain some fat in the form of emulsifiers or oils or fats naturally present in the grains used to make the product.
There have been several attempts at lowering the fat content of potato chips and of potato snacks made from doughs. One method involved coating chips with an aqueous dispersion of a high amylose starch. This is said to produce a potato chip with minimal oil pick-up and low variation in the amount of oil absorbed. (see RE 27,531 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,597,227 issued to Muray, et al. 1971). Coating of breaded or batter food products with a film forming agent such as gelatin or starches is also said to lower oil absorption by the foods when they are fried (U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,583 issued to Olson, et al, 1985). U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,884 issued to Young et al, describes reduced calorie potato chips which are made with nondigestible fats, in particular with polyol fatty acid polyesters. U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,643 (issued to Lodge, 1995) describes the use of hydrolyzed starches as part of the dough to provide snacks with a lower fat content. However, when making fabricated snacks, i.e., those made from doughs, other considerations arise. For example, the dough has to be sheeted or extruded. Emulsifiers are a key processing aid in preparing a dough which can be easily extruded or sheeted. Not all emulsifiers will function in the doughs to give both sheetability and good texture to the products.
Moreover, since the solids content, degree of hydrolysis and the water content of the dough also affect the browning and the texture of the product, a way to control these parameters is also needed.
It is therefore an object of this invention to make a fried snack which is lower in fat content but which has the same lubricity and texture as a snack with a higher fat content.
It is a further object of this invention to make a fried fabricated snacks which produce a uniform product in a controlled process.